Quick view: BHP, ArcelorMittal see tight iron ore market

Updated: Feb 29 2012, 06:03am hrs

The global iron ore market will remain tight until later in the decade because increased capital costs could delay some new projects, supporting prices that have more than doubled over the past three years. Global iron ore demand, chiefly driven by top importer China, has been outpacing supply, and many analysts have predicted the seaborne market will start to be oversupplied by 2014 or 2015 because of massive expansion by top miners Vale , Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. Between them, the Big 3, which control around two thirds of the 1-billion-tonne global seaborne market, are planning to ramp up output by more than 300 million tonnes over the next three years. But with rising costs set to delay greenfield projects, there is little risk of the global iron ore market being oversupplied until late in the decade, Simon Wandke, vice president and chief commercial officer of ArcelorMittal Mining, told an industry conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

BofA $8.5-billion deal returned to NY state court

Bank of America won a victory when a US appeals court ruled that a proposed $8.5-billion settlement with investors in mortgage-backed securities should be reviewed in New York state court, not federal court. Bank of America is seeking to resolve liabilities from its purchase of Countrywide Financial in 2008. The settlement has been viewed as a template for other banks to address claims by investors who bought risky pools of mortgages before the housing market collapsed. The ruling by the second US circuit court of appeals on Monday reverses an October decision by US district judge William Pauley who had taken the case from state court.

Fukushima: Japan leaders feared chain reaction

Japans prime minister ordered workers to remain at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant last March as fears mounted of a devils chain reaction that would force tens of millions of people to flee Tokyo, a new investigative report shows. Then-premier Naoto Kan and his staff began referring to a worst case scenario that could threaten Japans existence as a nation around three days after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to the report by a panel set up by a private think-tank. That was when fears mounted that thousands of spent fuel rods stored at a damaged reactor would melt and spew radiation after a hydrogen explosion at an adjacent reactor building, according to the panel report.

UK says bank tried to avoid $800 million in tax

Britain has ordered a bank to pay half a billion pounds ($800 million) in unpaid tax that it tried to avoid by exploiting regulatory loopholes, a government minister said Monday. Exchequer secretary David Gauke said the bank had sought to use an aggressive avoidance scheme to dodge corporation tax on profit made buying back its own debt. It also carried out a scheme to seek repayment from the government of tax it had never paid. The government did not name the bank, but the media reports identified it as Barclays. The bank could not be reached for comment.

Peugeot may sell 7% stake to GM in alliance

PSA Peugeot Citroen may soon announce plans to sell a stake of about 7% in the French carmaker to General Motors as part of a development alliance, Bloomberg reported, quoting people familiar with the matter. The deal would involve a standstill agreement by which GM would not take a greater holding in the Paris-based carmaker without permission, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Peugeot may offer additional shares through a rights issue as part of the transaction, the people said.